Interior windshield-mounted rearview mirrors are commonly used in most vehicles manufactured and sold throughout the world. Different mirror mounts have been designed for different vehicles. In the United States, for example, supports for conventional windshield-mounted rearview mirrors typically include a base member, known as a "button", which is adhered to the inside of the windshield surface. The button may sometimes have vertically disposed edges forming rails that is/are formed by a bevel on each edge. A support member, known as a "channel mount", may be slidably fitted over the button so that sides of the channel mount engage the rail(s) of the button. The channel mount may include a mounting device such as an arm, ball joint, or other structure for suspending a rearview mirror in the vehicle compartment for use by the driver of the vehicle. A typical mounting assembly, in the United States for example, includes a linkage with a double ball joint for adjusting the mirror relative to the windshield in a variety of positions.
Different shaped mirror mounts, each including a button, are disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,377,948; 5,589,026; 5,487,522; 5,587,236; 5,377,949; 5,100,095; 4,995,581; 4,930,742; and 4,254,931, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
Many European vehicles also include mirror mounting structures wherein a button is adapted to receive a complimentary-shaped channel mount with a spring retainer. Rather than being slidably mounted on the button, however, the channel mount in many European vehicles is positioned over the button and then rotated to lock the mount to the windshield button. The button may have a detent which is adapted to receive a tab on the channel mount when the channel mount is rotated to the lock position.
Conventional buttons in rearview mirror mounting structures are made of stainless steel. Such buttons are permanently adhered to the inner surface of a corresponding windshield by way of conventional metal-to-glass adhesive such as polyvinyl butyral (PVB). For example, see the disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 5,377,948.
Unfortunately, stainless steel buttons are undesirable in that they are very expensive and difficult to manufacture, cannot be made to be as flat as would otherwise be desired, are sometimes prone to falling off of windshields, and require grinding for shaping. Additionally, stainless stell buttons cannot be shaped so as to define sharp corners or bends, which is also undesireable.
It is apparent from the above that there exists a need in the art for a mirror mount button which (i) can be made more cheaply than conventional stainless steel buttons, (ii) can be made flatter than conventional stainless steel buttons; (iii) has a coefficient of expansion closely matched to a glass windshield; (iv) can be shaped as desired so as to include sharp corners for example; and/or (v) can be very securely adhered to an interior surface of a windshield.
It is the purpose of this invention to fulfill any combination, or all, of the above-described needs in the art, as well as other needs which will become apparent to the skilled artisan from the following detailed description of this invention.